KOA standard charge now $60?!

OutdoorPhotographer wrote:

2gypsies wrote:

jplante4 wrote:
I always get a kick out these threads. People driving around in motorhomes worth tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars complaining about paying $60 for a place to park it.

Most retirees driving big motorhomes or big 5th wheels with an expensive truck have saved many years for the privilege of buying it! They are not rich as you seem to infer.

We used public campgrounds 95% of our 16 years of full-timing. Not only because of the senior discount but because we'd much prefer being surrounded by nature than being surrounded by row after row of RVs.

I don't think it was a slam on folks being rich or not - we're all RV'ers at some level on this site. I think the price point is different for full-timers and vacationers. A full-timer (or frequent retired traveler) has more flexibility to stop in route where rates are lower and can go state park to state park. As a working family, if I'm on a 2-3 week trip for summer vacation, there is the stay portion and the transit. For us, the stay is almost always a national park. For the transit, I stick to a safe distance per day and try to be set up by 7 PM at the latest but I don't have the luxury of doing 100-150 mile days. If my schedule is get to the border of NY and MA, then I just need to find a decent campground that doesn't divert me off my route more than absolutely necessary. $60 near my route is better than $40 off of it.

It's also about balance. On our cross-country last year, we stayed at 3-4 KOA's averaging around $50/night, 2 Jelly Stones at $50-60, 1 municipal at $12, several private campgrounds and a national park. Loved the $12 municipal in MN for the setting although bath house was a dump. That was fine for the price and a couple nights. Worst experience was a campground in NE that was basically a parking lot, $60+ the best I remember, and had the bath house locked and decided not to leave the code for us after we called ahead to say we would arrive after the office closed. No campground host. What you get for $60 varies.